Advances in technology have ushered in the information age. Modern society now faces the challenge of balancing the desire to stay informed and be connected to one another (e.g., email, telephone, mail, video conferencing, etc.) while still maintaining a semblance of privacy. Methods and devices (e.g., email filters, spam filters, answering machines, caller ID, etc.) have been introduced to provide a person with the ability to control his/her privacy level.
A device that has become ubiquitous in the privacy endeavor is an answering machine. As discussed herein, an answering machine refers to a device with audio capability (e.g., speaker), which is locally situated to a telephone, capable of automatically responding to a telephone call (i.e., play a pre-recorded message) and receiving/recording messages. With the locally situated answering machine, a receiver may retrieve and respond to recorded messages at his/her convenience. Further, the receiver may employ the locally situated answering machine as a call screening device, while the answering machine is recording incoming messages. As discussed herein, call screening refers to the process of identifying a caller and his/her purposes before responding to a telecommunication request (i.e. telephone call).
Consider the situation wherein, for example, a receiver has been receiving a voluminous number of calls from telemarketers. Without a call-screening device (i.e., answering machine), the receiver may have to answer each telephone call in order to ascertain the validity of the telephone calls. Thus, the receiver may become quite wary with answering incoming telephone calls, particularly if a large percentage of the telephone calls are unwelcome by the receiver. However, by employing an answering machine, the receiver may call screen all his/her telephone calls and only interrupt the answering machine recording session if the incoming call is from a caller the receiver wishes to communicate with.
Generally, answering machines are utilized with telephones that employ circuit switching. As discussed herein, circuit switching refers to a telecommunication session between a caller's and a receiver's telephones in which a communication path is provisioned for regardless of communication activity between the two devices. In other words, a connection is maintained between the two devices for the entire duration of the session. Examples of circuit switching may include, but is not limited to, Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) and Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN).
To facilitate discussion, FIG. 1 shows an example of circuit switching. A caller places a telephone call by picking up a telephone 102 and dialing a receiver's telephone number. The telephone call may be routed as a signal through a plurality of switches (104 and 106) to connect with a telephone 108 at the receiver's premise. The receiver may elect to establish a telecommunication session with the caller by personally responding to the telephone call. Alternatively, the receiver may allow an answering machine 110 to automatically respond to the telephone call by playing a pre-recorded outgoing message, and subsequently recording the incoming message.
Since circuit switching maintains a connection between the caller's telephone and the receiver's telephone/answering machine for the duration of the telecommunication session, the receiver may employ answering machine 110 as a call screening device. As long as answering machine 110 is recording, the target user may interrupt answering machine 110 to respond to the incoming telephone call. If the receiver elects not to interrupt the recording session, then the receiver may retrieve and respond to the recorded messages later at his/her convenience.
Note that the number of messages recorded/saved may depend upon the amount of memory space on an answering machine. If a receiver elects to have the answering machine automatically respond to all incoming telephone calls, the answering machine may “max out” its memory capacity; thus, the receiver may not receive all messages because of memory space limitations. Further, with finite storage capacity, answering machines typically do not provide for a backup system (e.g., memory space for temporarily holding deleted messages or duplicating the currently stored messages at another location to allow recovery in case of fire or other disaster); thus, the receiver may not be able to retrieve messages that have been accidentally deleted. Additionally in the case of power outage or “brown out,” the ability to receive message or call screen may be disabled since most answering machines tend to rely on external power.
An alternative messaging system is a remote centralized server (RCS), such as voicemail, which has the capability of automatically responding to incoming telephone calls and recording/saving incoming messages to a dedicated memory space, similar to the aforementioned answering machine. The RCS is remote in that incoming messages are handled by a server (e.g., computer) that is generally located at a third-party location (e.g., such as the telephone provider). Also, the RCS is centralized in that the server is capable of managing telephone messages for a plurality of users. Further, RCS's storage capacity is usually expandable, allowing the users to increase available memory space without incurring unreasonable cost. In addition, the information on the server may be saved onto an external medium providing for a backup system, which may rely on redundant power to ensure constant uptime.
Unlike the aforementioned answering machines, RCSs are not limited to telephones that employ circuit switching. RCSs may be typically utilized with telephones that employ packet switching (e.g., Voice over Internet Protocol). As discussed herein, packet switching refers to a method in which data are broken into a plurality of packets and are sent through a packet-based network along the most expedient route to the destination (e.g., the receiver's telephone). Further, packet switching provides for a connection-oriented communication path, which is a virtual communication path that exists through a network to carry packets between two devices.
Packet switching technology has several advantages over circuit switching. With packet switching, a telephone call may be placed from any location that may have high-speed internet connectivity. Further, since packet switching may not require a dedicated line during a telecommunication session, packet switching technology tends to utilize fewer resources, thus allowing packet switching to be a lower-cost alternative to circuit switching.
FIG. 2 shows an example of packet switching with a RCS solution. A caller picks up a telephone 202 and dials a receiver's telephone number. The telephone number is routed as a plurality of packets through a plurality of routers (204 and 206) via an internet 208 to connect with a packet switch provider 210. From packet switch provider 210, a connection is made with a telephone 212 at the receiver's premise. Unlike circuit switching which maintains a connection between the two parties for the entire duration of the telecommunication session, packet switching does not provide for a continuous connection. If the receiver elects not to respond to the telephone call, the telephone call is disconnected from telephone 212, after a designated number of rings, and forwarded to a RCS 214, which is within packet switch provider 210. RCS 214, on the receiver's behalf, may play a pre-recorded outgoing message and may record any incoming message.
Once the receiver has relinquished control over the telecommunication session, a receiver is unable to differentiate between a dropped telephone call and a telephone call that has been forwarded to RCS. Since a connection is not established between the receiver and the RCS, the receiver is unable to conduct call screening since the incoming message may only be heard by the receiver after the RCS has completed the recording. As packet switching gains popularity as a low-cost telecommunication alternative to circuit switching, the inability to call screen is a challenge that has to be addressed in order to continue to empower modern society with the ability to maintain a semblance of privacy control.